The Most-Distant Solar System Object Discovered (cnn.com)

Rick Zeman writes: Astronomers in Hawaii have discovered the furthest object in our solar system, a dwarf planet aptly named "Farout." This planet is 100 times farther than Earth is from the sun (120 AU from the sun) and is thought to be composed of ice. The object is so far away that researchers estimate it probably takes more than 1,000 years to make one trip around the sun. For reference, Pluto is 34 AU away and takes about 248 years to orbit the sun. Eris, the next most distance object know, is 96 AU from the sun.

Comments

Farthest post

[Anonymous Coward]

Farthest post!

Voyager 2

[hcs_$reboot]

Voyager 2 is also at 120 AU from earth, and is said to have left our solar system. So "farout" is outside?

Re:Voyager 2

[Anonymous Coward]

I think when you find new planets orbiting our sun at some distance our solar system is by definition expanded out to that distance.

Re: Voyager 2

[Anonymous Coward]

It has entered intersellar space (beyond the heliopause) but is still within the solar system. There are likely objects part or the solar system that are as far as 1,000 au away from the sun, almost 1/4 of the way to the nearest star.

Re:Voyager 2

[Anonymous Coward]

The going theory from what little I've read about this is there's possibly a large gravity source out there in the hundreds of AU's that is stabilizing the as-yet unknown orbit of some of these far-out bodies. We'll know in a few years, exciting times.

Re: Voyager 2

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Not really; we already knew that space is hostile to life.

Re: Voyager 2

[hcs_$reboot]

livescience begs to differ,

The end of the solar system is about 122 astronomical units (AU) away from the sun

Re: Voyager 2

[hcs_$reboot]

Wow, a 1000 of australias!!!

Indeed, half of their population.

Re: Voyager 2

[hcs_$reboot]

Thanks, but that does say how large is the solar system? No.

Re: Voyager 2

[hackertourist]

That depends on your definition of "solar system". The 'end' Livescience are talking about is the heliopause, where the environment is no longer dominated by the solar wind. The gravitational influence of the Sun reaches much further than that. The Oort cloud is thought to stretch out to about 1 ly from the sun, beyond that the Sun is no longer the dominant gravitational force.

This discovery shows it's silly to use definitive statements like "end of the solar system" when objects that are clearly part of our solar system are found beyond 122 AU.

Re: Voyager 2

[hcs_$reboot]

That depends on your definition of "solar system"

"My definition" of the solar system actually depends on what is found on the Internet. Like that site. Heliopause or not, "their" solar system ends there.

Re:Voyager 2

[Chris Mattern]

Voyager 2 is also at 120 AU from earth, and is said to have left our solar system. So "farout" is outside?

All depends on your definition of where the boundary of the solar system is. The traditional definition is the heliopause, where the solar wind dies out in the interstellar medium, which happens at about 120 AU. However, it's long been known that there are planetoids orbiting the sun beyond the heliopause, referred to as the Oort Cloud. By the traditional definition, those are outside the solar system.

Re:Voyager 2

[Anonymous Coward]

This "outside" nonsense is a bit of media hyperbole.
The oort cloud is part of our solar systems, or more specific, part of our stars "significant influence".
The oort cloud is so big it touches the nearest stars oort cloud. It's essentially doing the dirty deed with it, it is so close.

The supposed end these people were talking about was the termination of the solar winds, which doesn't define THE end (it shouldn't!), just the end of one particular facet of the solar system.
The better actual end of the solar system is when the suns gravity is no longer the dominating force, which puts it anywhere up to half-way between here and Alpha Centauri. The exact value isn't known for obvious reasons (not been there, barely discovered bodies, etc.)
At this distance, objects cease Sol orbit and instead just intermingle with other objects in the outer oort cloud regions, probably ending up smashed at some point, if not hurled towards the inner solar system and becoming an orbiting body over the next few billion years depending on speed.
The big issue on the exact termination point inside of the oort cloud is determining where gravity is still, overall, the defining force. Given there is so much crap out there that was pushed out in the early solar system, it could be that stuff is just slowly moving away from us at speeds we can't reliably measure. Or, it could be that gravity is pulling in some of these smaller objects all the time but the solar winds can overpower that when they get in far enough. Where that ends is the real question.
The inner oort cloud is still (and should be) very much considered part of our solar system, just like the very far reaches of our atmosphere are considered part of it, beyond a certain density of air where it is then considered space and particles just fly off from the solar winds because gravity can no longer hold on to it.
You'll certainly not be breathing at the far edges (inner solar system edge), but it is still our atmosphere.

Re:Voyager 2

[icejai]

Voyager 2 left the heliopause, but technically, things can be in interstellar space and still be gravitationally bound to the/our sun.
"Being part of the solar system" might depend more on gravity, instead of being in the heliopause.

Re:Voyager 2

[in10se]

That's a question of semantics. Voyager has left our heliosphere. This new planet is still held by the sun's gravity, so it would be part of our solar system even if it is outside the heliosphere.

Re:Voyager 2

[AlwinBarni]

Voyager 2 is also at 120 AU from earth, and is said to have left our solar system. So "farout" is outside?

Voyager 2 (recently) and 1 (some time ago) are said to have left the Solar System in the meaning that they have crossed Heliopause and entered Interstellar medium - as a space where solar wind is not a dominating force, they still are, however, far withing the gravitational influence of the Sun, which reaches estimated 1ly (which is about 65700AU), where it is speculated that the spherical Oort cloud stretches out.

! AU = Distance Of The Earth To The Sun

[Crashmarik]

Not to get picky here but if it's 120 AU away from the Sun that 120 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun not 100

Re:! AU = Distance Of The Earth To The Sun

[hcs_$reboot]

Maybe because we're in winter soon.

Re:! AU = Distance Of The Earth To The Sun

[ls671]

Hehe, interesting but I think you have this backward. Earth seems closer in North hemisphere winter right now:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Also, I think this might change through the eras since I can't figure out a relation between the axis of the Earth and its orbit position so it seems random to me so far.

Re:! AU = Distance Of The Earth To The Sun

[MaryannG]

That would depend on where you measure "Earth" from. The middle or the edge.

Re:! AU = Distance Of The Earth To The Sun

[kamakazi]

Thank you. There is someone else who has trouble reading past this type of blatant error. That is like someone saying something is "3 yards long, that's 10 feet"

In proper news speak, isn't 120 AU actually "OMG! OVER 100 TIMES FARTHER FROM THE SUN THAN EARTH!!!"

Or possibly just use "further" insted of "farther", then the whole thing will fall into an etymological debate and the actual definition of AU will be overlooked.

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Aptly named?

[fahrbot-bot]

... discovered the furthest object in our solar system, a dwarf planet aptly named "Farout."

Now when they find something else more distant, they'll have to name that "Farther Out" ...

Editorial quality dipping severely

[Anonymous Coward]

>Eris, the next most distance object know, is 96 AU from the sun.

Mistakes? Who, me? Never, I use a spelchekker.

Have we got a rocket ...

[Alain Williams]

that is powerful enough so we can send all our politicians there and thus the rest of us get on with peaceful & productive lives ?

Re:Perhaps nothing significant out there

[stealth_finger]

You write like creimer... He's so big the universe is gravitationally bound to HIM!

So what you're saying is, he is the center of your universe? Thought so.

Re:Sedna?

[SqueakyMouse]

From space.com:

To be clear: The record Farout now holds is for the most-distant solar system body ever observed. That doesn't mean no other objects gets farther away from the sun than 120 AU. In fact, we know some that do. The dwarf planet Sedna gets more than 900 AU away on its highly elliptical orbit, for example, and there are probably trillions of comets in the Oort Cloud, which lies between about 5,000 AU and 100,000 AU from the sun.

120AU?

[The Grim Reefer]

This planet is 100 times farther than Earth is from the sun (120 AU from the sun)

The last time I checked the definition of an AU was the mean distance of the earth from the sun. Which makes the earth 1AU from the sun. If the planet is 120AU from the sun that would make it 120 times farther not 100.

Re:120AU?

[Bengie]

I see what you did there

Why send them there?

[MiniMike]

The Sun is much closer. Just tell them it's the biggest, and that they'll be landing at night.

Re:1x100=120

[mcswell]

Yes, the Earth was moved further away as a means to control climate change.

And before anyone mentions this, Jules Verne (IIRC) actually wrote a story about moving the Earth closer to the Sun, to make up for the fact that the Sun was (in some future) outputting less light/ heat.